Union TownshipPorter County, IN
A town of 9,494. Public schools that outperform most of Indiana.
Is Union Township a good place to live?
Union Township gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $358K for a typical one, or 3.9 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. It grades A− overall, 142nd among Indiana's 585 graded towns. On the plus side, its public schools beat 91% of Indiana towns on state tests and graduation. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 94% of U.S. towns. Only 71 of Indiana’s 1,098 towns score lower on history. Union Township’s average trip to work is 32 minutes, above both the Indiana town median (24 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes).
What makes Union Township stand out
Where Union Township beats most towns.
95% of working residents leave Union Township for work
Where Union Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Union Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Indiana), ordered by how far Union Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Soldier Field and 111 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Union Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw35 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw30 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw34 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
6 mi National ParkIndiana Dunes National Park2.6M visitors a year
Big draw38 mi Stadium & arenaUnited Center
Big draw36 mi MuseumArt Institute of Chicago1.5M visitors a yearPhoto credits
Soldier Field: Photo by Joon Han Contact: [email protected], CC BY-SA 3.0 · Barack Obama Presidential Center: AlphaBeta135, CC0 · Rate Field: User Enoch Lai on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Indiana Dunes National Park: J. Crocker, Attribution · United Center: User:JeremyA, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Art Institute of Chicago: ajay_suresh, CC BY 2.0
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Moving to Union Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Union Township, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Union Township.
Union Township pairs an A for schools with modest home prices, looks healthier within Indiana than nationally and sends most of its workers to Valparaiso and beyond.
Union Township’s grade for schools is an A
Its A for schools comes with a B for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $358K.
Its public schools are run by Union Township School Corp. Three of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Wheeler High School, with 387 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Union Center Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 386 | A |
| Wheeler High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 387 | A |
| John Simatovich Elementary SchoolTop results in townGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 280 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IN on state tests and graduation
Union Township has set aside 0.9% of its land for conservation
9.6 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Gabis Arboretum at Purdue Northwest, 294 acres with 6.9 miles of trail.
| Union Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.9% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Gabis Arboretum at Purdue Northwest | 6.9 mi | 294 |
| 2. Walnut Woods Nature Preserve | — | 11 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Very low risk in Union Township, with inland flooding at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 81% of U.S. communities. Since 1981, 10 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Union Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Most working residents commute out of Union Township
Union Township has 774 jobs for its 4,184 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. The average commute takes 31.5 minutes, against 24.1 across Indiana.
Most working residents leave Union Township for work: only 5% work in town. The median household income in Union Township is $116,000. The top destinations are Valparaiso (14%), Portage (7%) and Hobart (6%).
| Union Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $116,000 | $71,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.9% | 11% | 8% |
| Work from home | 9.5% | 7.8% | 11% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Union Township has four seasons and pleasant summers
Union Township has chilly winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 16° and about 27 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
More middle-aged adults than Indiana overall
The median household earns $115,664, against $71,957 across Indiana, one input to its A− for jobs and income.
Adults 35 to 64 are 42% of residents (37% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 18% of residents (23% statewide). Union Township’s median age is 44.8 years. 31% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 30% across Indiana.
| Union Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 44.8 years | 39.4 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 31% | 22% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 22% | 23% | 22% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
48% women, 52% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3 points. Across Indiana, 50.4% of residents are women.
| Union Township | IN | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8.9% | 12.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 12.7% | 10.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 10.3% | 9.6% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 7.7% | 13.1% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.7% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 16% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.4% | 12.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 12.3% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.1% | 6.7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 6.4% | 9.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 31.1% | 32.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 21.2% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 10% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 18% | 18.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 13.3% | 10.8% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Residents of Union Township are less healthy than 52% of U.S. towns
Within Indiana it is healthier than 71% of the 589 graded towns: much of Indiana scores lower on these measures. Against the 6,364 U.S. towns with household incomes like Union Township’s, it is less healthy than 87%, so it trails even them.
Union Township beats the Indiana average on 4 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 31% of adults feel lonely in Union Township.
| Union Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 32% | 33% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 17% | 14% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 37% | 36% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 26% | 23% |
| What stands out | Union Township | IN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 12.8% | 15.4% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 12.7% | 14.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Everything we know about Union Township
Colleges nearby
2 within 15 miles of the center of Union Township
About 5 of every 100 Union Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Indiana.
About Union Township
Township in Indiana, United States
Union Township is one of twelve townships in Porter County, Indiana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 8,811, and in 2020, it was 9,403.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 30 sq mi
- Elevation
- 745 ft
Union Township’s neighbors
7 towns share a border with Union Township.
| Town | IN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Union Township | #142 | A− | B | — | A | B− |
| Ross Township | #467 | C+ | B | — | C+ | C |
| Portage Township | #444 | C+ | B+ | — | C+ | C |
| Merrillville | #481 | C | B | — | C+ | C− |
| Center Township | #49 | A | B− | — | A+ | B |
| Hobart | #439 | C+ | B | C | B− | C+ |
| Hobart Township | #461 | C+ | A− | — | C+ | C− |
| Porter Township | #181 | A− | B+ | — | B+ | B− |
Union Township, Ross Township, Portage Township, Merrillville, Center Township, Hobart Township and Porter Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Union Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Union Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Union Township, IN a good place to live?
By most measures, yes. Union Township grades A− overall, better than 80% of U.S. towns and #142 of 585 in Indiana. It grades B− for health and A for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D.
Is Union Township, IN expensive?
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.